1. Property tax exemptions for volunteer fire department property must be voted at town meeting. Property tax exemptions for volunteer fire departments must be voted at town meeting. The exemption can be voted for ten years and thereafter for five-year periods. 32 V.S.A. §3840. The Vermont Lister’s Handbook published by the tax department provides a good discussion of property tax exemptions including a chart giving the source of funding for education property tax liability for locally voted exemptions. The handbook also includes a chapter on properties that are exempt under state or federal law, and another chapter on exemptions that must be voted by the town. The handbook is available online at http://www.state.vt.us/tax/pvrlisters.shtml

2. Property purchased by exempt entity retains non-exempt status until April 1st of the next year. When a church purchases property after April 1, the date when the grand list is lodged, there is no mechanism in the statutes to grant a tax exemption until the following year. When the listers prepare the next year’s grand list, the property can be listed as exempt under 32 V.S.A. §3802(4) and 3832, but until then taxes are due from the owner.

3. Towns cannot abate taxes of nonprofit based on change of ownership. The board of abatement can only exercise those powers specifically delegated by statute, and cannot exceed those powers. 24 V.S.A. § 1535 provides the complete list of reasons for abatement of local property taxes, including when a taxpayer dies insolvent, or a person has left the state, or when a person is unable to pay. These are the only reasons that local property taxes can be abated. The change in status of the owners of property to nonprofit is not one of the permissible reasons to abate taxes.

4. Villages generally use town grand list. Most villages in Vermont set the tax rate for the village using the grand list assessments prepared by the town listers. If a resident grieves his taxes, and the listers or BCA make an adjustment lowering the property assessment, the grand list will be adjusted and the village must also lower the assessed amount.

5. A municipal ordinance cannot be adopted or established by vote of the electorate. With the exception of ethics rules and zoning and subdivision bylaws, only the selectboard can adopt or amend an ordinance. Once an ordinance has been adopted the legal voters of the town can bring a petition signed by five percent of the voters within 44 days of the adoption of the ordinance to require the selectboard to warn a meeting to allow voters to vote to disapprove an ordinance. However, a petition cannot be used to force a town to vote to adopt or amend an ordinance. 24 V.S.A. §1972 and 1973.

6. Town manager is responsible for accounting for all departments. In towns that have adopted a town manager form of government, the manager is responsible for the accounting for the town. The treasurer is responsible for paying all orders from the board and, upon consultation with the selectboard, invests the money of the town. The manager should not be a co-signer on the checking account, but is responsible for managing the accounts for the town. 24 VSA § 1236(7).

7. Town manager’s contract is public record. Although a contract may be exempt from disclosure while it is being negotiated, once it is signed by the parties it is a public record. The fact that it is a personnel contract does not make it exempt from disclosure since only personal information is exempt from disclosure (such as social security numbers, information related to medical conditions, etc . . .) 1 V.S.A. § 317 (c) (15). Trombley v. Bellows Falls, 160 Vt. 101 (1993).

8. Selectboard must show harm from premature disclosure before going into executive session to discuss contract with public official. The courts have held that in order for a board to go into executive session to discuss a collective bargaining agreement or a contract with a town employee it must make a showing that premature knowledge of the negotiations would cause harm to the town. 1 V.S.A. § 316 (a) (1); Berlickij v. Town of Castleton, 327 F. Supp. 2d 371 (D. Vt. 2004).

9. When there is a vacancy in the selectboard, the remaining board members should appoint to fill the vacancy until the next election. When there is a vacancy in a town office, including the selectboard, the selectboard must post the vacancy within 10 days of its creation. At any time after the vacancy is created the board may appoint a person to fill the term of office until the next election. 24 V.S.A. §§ 961, 963. The purpose of the posting is to notify the public of the vacancy so that people could choose to petition for a special meeting to fill the vacancy. Many boards choose to wait until notice has been posted so that interested citizens could express interest in serving on the selectboard, however the board is not required to do so and may appoint a person of their choosing.

10. Selectboard does not have to follow Roberts Rules for its meetings. There is no requirement that a selectboard use as its rules of procedure Roberts Rules of Order (state laws, however, require school boards to use Robert Rules). If your board chooses to use Roberts Rules, you should use the rules for small boards. The small board rules permit the chair of the board to participate in all votes – ordinarily Roberts Rules permits the chair to vote only to make or break a tie vote.

Remember that the purpose of rules of procedure is to ensure that meetings run in an orderly and fair manner - and not to provide individuals with an ability to create outcomes by manipulating the process. Because a municipal board may make up its own rule of procedure, if a rule of Roberts does not work for you, your board can choose to change it! It is important, however, to keep a record of your board’s variations on the rules so that you can ensure consistency.

11. Vermont law tells us how to count time when there is a deadline for action. Generally, when the law requires something to be done within a particular number of days – such as an appeal filed or a decision sent out – you do not count the day referenced in the law. This means that if an appeal must be made in writing within 15 days of a notice of decision being mailed out, the first day counted toward the 15 is the day following the day the notices are mailed. 1 V.S.A. § 138 provides "When time is to be reckoned from a day, date or an act done, such day, date or day when such act is done shall not be included in the computation, unless otherwise provided."

12. A citizen who wishes to be added to the checklist cannot refuse to take the voter’s oath. When the court struck down Vermont’s durational residency requirement as unconstitutional, the court found that the constitutional requirement to take the voter’s oath was fine. A voter only need to take the oath once, but each citizen must take it before being added to the checklist for the first time in Vermont. (If you move to another town in Vermont, you do not need to take the oath again.). The law was amended effective July 1, 2008, so that now a voter or any person over 18 can sign the form to attest that he or she has sworn or affirmed the oath.

13. Permits are required for large events. The organizers of a commercial public event or gathering expecting 2,000 or more attendees must apply for a permit from the Department of Public Safety at least 30 days before the event is held. The Department of Public Safety may grant the permit, deny the permit, or grant the permit with conditions, such as providing for a bond or other financial security. If a town wants to regulate smaller assemblies, the town needs to enact local ordinances or regulations.

14. Challenge letters must be sent to people the board of civil authority believes have moved out of town. 17 V.S.A. §2150 outlines the process to challenge voters and also how to purge voters that have not responded and who have not voted in two general elections after receipt of the challenge letter. The Elections Division has sent an election bulletin this summer reviewing the challenge letter process in great detail for town clerks. It is our strong suggestion that each town clerk ask the BCA to make a motion to authorize the town clerk to use seller information on Property Transfer Tax Return (PTTR) forms as an indicator that a person has moved so that challenge letters can be sent very soon after a voter moves. Town clerks that have implemented this process report that when the challenge letter is sent soon after a move, there is a much higher response rate so that the person can be removed from the checklist immediately.

15. Towns must notify the secretary of state when it has completed its checklist purge. Once a town has completed the challenge letter process that is required at minimum by September of each odd numbered year, the town clerk must send an email or letter to the Elections Division stating that the challenge process has been completed as required by 17 V.S.A. 2150(d)(7). If your town has not already sent this letter or email, please send it now!

16. Town can require connection to municipal sewer. If a town or city extends its sewer system, it can adopt an ordinance to require that all adjacent property owners connect to the public system and abandon private septic systems. 24 V.S.A.§3509. The sewage commissioners may require the owners of buildings, subdivisions or developments abutting a public street connected to the municipal sewage system.

17. Voters can permit interest charge on overdue water/sewer bills. Water or sewer commissioners can charge interest on delinquent payments for water and/or sewer ONLY if the voters of the municipality have approved an article in the warning to collect interest on overdue water or sewer bills. 24 V.S.A. §5151 and 32 V.S.A. §5136. The article must be voted in the same manner as the vote to collect interest on delinquent taxes, and likewise stays in effect until voted otherwise at a subsequent meeting.

18. Not all planning commissioners must be town residents. The majority of members of a planning commission must reside in town; however Vermont law permits the selectboard to appoint members from outside of town. The statutes allow non-residents to serve in order to allow the planning commission to have members with special expertise without regard to their residency. 24 V.S.A. §4322.

19. A member of a planning commission may be removed at any time by the unanimous vote of the selectboard. Planning commissioners serve at the will of the board. However, they can only be removed if every member present agrees. 24 V.S.A.§4323(a). The statute does not require that planning commissioners only be removed for cause.  Note that elected planning commissioners may not be removed by the board.  24 V.S.A. § 4323(4).

20. Town may vote to eliminate office of auditor. Vermont law permits a town to vote by ballot at an annual meeting to eliminate the office of town auditor. If a town votes to eliminate the office of town auditor, the selectboard must contract with a public accountant, licensed in this state, to perform an annual financial audit of all funds of the town and it must ensure that the town report is produced. 17 V.S.A. § 2651b.

21. Auditors continue to serve until CPA is hired or for 45 days. Even if the town fails to hire a CPA the terms of the auditors will expire after the town votes to eliminate the office. Vermont law provides that when a town has voted to eliminate the office of auditor the terms of those serving that office expire on the 45th day after the vote or on the date that the selectboard enters into a contract with a public accountant, whichever occurs first. 17 V.S.A. § 2651b.

22. Town can return to elected auditors after new vote. Once a town has eliminated the board of auditors, the board can only be reinstated by a vote of the town to rescind its earlier vote to eliminate the office. This vote must be by majority of the legal voters present and voting, by ballot, at an annual meeting. 17 V.S.A. § 2651b.

23. Towns with board of auditors should fill vacancies. Vermont law requires towns with boards of auditors to have three auditors, each of whom are elected for three-year terms by the voters at town meeting. The terms are staggered so that at each town meeting only one auditor is elected. 17 V.S.A. 2646. When there is a vacancy in this office the selectboard is required to fill it "forthwith" or to hold a special election to fill the vacancy, however it is not uncommon for these vacancies to go unfilled. We believe it is important to fill vacancies in the board of auditors because this board performs an important function for the town - - ensuring that the town understands how its tax dollars have been spent. It is important, therefore to let this board operate with full membership. 24 V.S.A. § 963.

 

In our monthly Opinions, we provide what we believe the law requires based upon our legal judgment, years of observing Vermont's local government practices, and Vermont Court decisions. This information is intended as a reference guide only and should not replace the advice of legal counsel.

Table of Contents     |     Past Issues of Opinions     |     Secretary of State's Homepage

For more information about the Secretary of State’s Office’s Civics Programs or to order materials
visit www.sec.state.vt.us or contact Missy Shea at 802-828-1296
or email mshea@sec.state.vt.us

Secretary Markowitz was honored to speak at the
naturalization ceremony at the Vermont State House on September 11.
Over 90 people took the oath to become new United States citizens.

Table of Contents     |     Past Issues of Opinions     |     Secretary of State's Homepage

*****************************************************************************************************************************

We recently lost two municipal officials.

Please join us in remembering them and expressing

appreciation for their years of service to the citizens of Vermont.

Richard DelBianco, Rutland Town Selectboard

Donovan Mayo, Lincoln Selectboard

Table of Contents     |     Past Issues of Opinions     |     Secretary of State's Homepage

11 - Veterans Day. 1 V.S.A. § 371(a)

26 - Thanksgiving Day. 1 V.S.A. § 371(a)

Table of Contents     |     Past Issues of Opinions     |     Secretary of State's Homepage

Table of Contents     |     Past Issues of Opinions     |     Secretary of State's Homepage